igblastr

BioC version	Status
release
devel

igblastr is an R/Bioconductor package developed at the Hyrien Lab that provides functions to conveniently install and use a local IgBLAST installation from within R.

See https://bioconductor.org/packages/igblastr for more information, including for how to install the release version of the package (please refrain from installing directly from GitHub).

To cite the igblastr package in publications, please use:

Pagès H, Hyrien O, MacPhee K, Duff M, Taylor J (2026). igblastr: User-friendly R Wrapper to IgBLAST. doi:10.18129/B9.bioc.igblastr https://doi.org/10.18129/B9.bioc.igblastr. https://bioconductor.org/packages/igblastr.

A BibTeX entry for LaTeX users is

@Manual{,
  title = {igblastr: User-friendly R Wrapper to IgBLAST},
  author = {Hervé Pagès and Ollivier Hyrien and Kellie MacPhee and Michael Duff and Jason Taylor},
  year = {2026},
  doi = {10.18129/B9.bioc.igblastr},
  url = {https://bioconductor.org/packages/igblastr},
}

Please also cite the original IgBLAST tool if you use it in your analysis.

IgBLAST is described at https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/23671333/

IgBLAST web interface: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/igblast/

Please use https://github.com/HyrienLab/igblastr/issues to report bugs, provide feedback, request features, etc...

Quick start

1. Install and load igblastr

Install igblastr

First install and load BiocManager:

if (!require("BiocManager", quietly=TRUE))
    install.packages("BiocManager")

library(BiocManager)

Loading BiocManager should display a message that indicates the version of Bioconductor that you are using.

• If you are using Bioconductor 3.23:

  BiocManager::install("igblastr")

  This will download and install the latest version of the package from the Bioconductor 3.23 software repository.

  Note that Bioconductor 3.23 was released on April 29, 2026 and is the most recent release. It requires R 4.6. See https://bioconductor.org/about/release-announcements/

• If you are using Bioconductor 3.22 (requires R 4.5):

  PLEASE DO NOT INSTALL igblastr FROM THE BIOCONDUCTOR 3.22 SOFTWARE REPOSITORY!

  Bioconductor 3.22 was frozen in April 2026 with the version of igblastr included in it being frozen permanently at 1.0.23. Unfortunately, the install_IMGT_germline_db() function included in this version of igblastr is known to generate incorrect internal data for Macaca mulatta (rhesus monkey) and other IMGT organisms. See #11 for the details.

  So instead, install igblastr directly from GitHub with:

  if (!require("remotes", quietly=TRUE))
      BiocManager::install("remotes")
  
  BiocManager::install("HyrienLab/igblastr@RELEASE_3_23")

  This will install the latest version of the package where the issue w.r.t. internal data has been addressed.

  Alternatively, we strongly recommend that you update your installation to Bioconductor 3.23 (requires R 4.6). This will allow you to install the package with BiocManager::install("igblastr") and keep your installation up-to-date by running BiocManager::install() on a regular basis.

• If you are using Bioconductor 3.21 (requires R 4.5):

  You need to install igblastr directly from GitHub (usually discouraged):

  if (!require("remotes", quietly=TRUE))
      BiocManager::install("remotes")
  
  BiocManager::install("HyrienLab/igblastr@RELEASE_3_23")

  This will install the latest version of the package.

  The reason for installing directly from GitHub is because the package was only added to Bioconductor >= 3.22 so cannot be installed from the Bioconductor 3.21 software repository.

  Alternatively, like for Bioconductor 3.22 users, we strongly recommend that you update your installation to Bioconductor 3.23. See above.

Load igblastr

library(igblastr)

2. Set up IgBLAST

Install a pre-compiled IgBLAST

install_igblast()

This will download the arch-specific pre-compiled IgBLAST from https://ftp.ncbi.nih.gov/blast/executables/igblast/release/LATEST/ and install it in a persistent location. See ?install_igblast.

or use an existing installation of IgBLAST

Sys.setenv(IGBLAST_ROOT="path/to/igblast/root")

Note: Environment variable IGBLAST_ROOT should preferrably be set in a more persistent manner outside R e.g. by defining it in the user's .profile (on Unix/Mac). See ?IGBLAST_ROOT.

Check IgBLAST

igblast_info()

This will make sure that the installed IgBLAST is functional. It will also display basic information about it (e.g. igblastn version).

3. Install germline dbs and select db to use

Install germline dbs

At least one germline db must be installed.

Several specialized functions will be provided for that e.g.:

install_IMGT_germline_db()   # see '?install_IMGT_germline_db'
install_OGRDB_germline_db()  # see '?install_OGRDB_germline_db'
# etc...

Select the germline db to use with igblastn()

list_germline_dbs()
use_germline_db(<db-name>)

See ?use_germline_db.

4. Select constant region db (optional)

The C-regions from IMGT are pre-installed for a few organisms:

list_c_region_dbs()

Select the C-region db to use with igblastn():

use_c_region_db(<db-name>)

See ?use_c_region_db.

5. Use igblastn()

See ?igblastn.